Kingdom Come The first version of Gog is William, the sole survivor of a nuclear disaster in Kansas that was caused by
Parasite injuring
Captain Atom. Believing in
Superman as a savior, William creates a church dedicated to his philosophy as he tries to find meaning in the cataclysm that had taken place, believing that it was Superman's will that Earth be punished for forsaking him. One day, Superman visits William and tells him that he is not the omnipotent, perfect being that William thought he was, shattering William's world view and mentally unbalancing him. When the Quintessence (
Shazam,
Ganthet,
Zeus,
Highfather, and
Phantom Stranger) invest him with a portion of their power, William, now known as Gog, blames Superman for his misfortune, believing him to be the Anti-Christ who had allowed the Kansas disaster to take place to regain his standing in the world. Using his newfound powers, Gog repeatedly kills Superman, undoing his death via time travel. Gog's actions expose the existence of
Hypertime, a construct similar to the
Multiverse.
Thy Kingdom Come A reimagined version of William Matthews appears in the series
Justice Society of America. This version is a priest named William Matthews who received his powers from an underground citadel in Africa and took the name Gog, which was the name of the last surviving god of the Third World. When the Justice Society follow him back to the citadel, his body is absorbed by a stone face on a wall. The stone face rises, becoming a massive stone man adorned in gold who claims to be the one, true Gog. Gog saves an African village near his citadel from the effects of toxic contamination from lava that contained his essence and heals
Damage's disfigured face in response to his skepticism. Gog then sends
Sandman to a blissful, dream-filled sleep for twenty-four hours, cures
Starman's schizophrenia, gives
Doctor Mid-Nite his sight back, and sends
Power Girl "
home". Gog then hears the noises of a war going on nearby and vows to stop it. Finding a small village under attack by a rogue militia, Gog transforms the soldiers into trees. During the conflict, David Reid, one of the JSA's new recruits, is hit by a rocket launcher blast and killed. Gog brings Reid back to life, replacing his arm with gold armor, and renames him "
Magog". Later, Gog's intentions to move on to the Middle East and punish the warmongers there in the same fashion as the militia members causes the Justice Society to split in half, with
Hawkman, Magog, Damage,
Wildcat (Tom Bronson),
Amazing Man,
Judomaster, and
Citizen Steel taking Gog's side. The rest of the JSA who did not choose to follow Gog realize that Gog's wishes have various negative side-effects; Starman fears that he cannot complete his mission in the past with his sanity intact, the loss of Sandman's prophetic dreams has cost him one of his greatest edges in hunting criminals, Doctor Mid-Nite feels hindered by the loss of his unique sight after so long with it, Power Girl finds that she has been sent to a 'new' Earth-Two with an existing counterpart for herself, and while Damage cannot see it, his restored face makes him increasingly vain and arrogant. Sandman tells the other JSA members that Gog is rooting himself into the Earth, and if he remains for one more day, the Earth will die if he ever leaves. Hawkman and the rest of the Society following Gog attempt to protect him, until they see him attempt to transform
Jay Garrick into lightning. All of Gog's followers turn against him and Gog punishes the Society by taking away his "gifts". Citizen Steel breaks Gog's leg with a single punch and eventually, the JSA are able to topple Gog and cut off his head. The Superman of Earth-22 and Starman take the still-living head to the
Source Wall, embedding it there. ==Powers and abilities==